The Hoosiers hope to crush the Boilermakers for a second time this season as Purdue visits Assembly Hall on Saturday for a 2pm game. The game will be broadcast on ESPN with Bob Wischusen and Dan Dakich commentating.
Despite the Hoosiers' level of play going into the first match-up with Purdue on Jan 30, I don't think anyone would have predicted that IU would win by 37 points. I mean, this was just about the definition of a trap game: a game against a lower-level team sandwiched between games against two ranked opponents (Michigan State and Michigan). But thanks to multiple very good performances the Hoosiers were able to absolutely dominate at Mackey Arena. Five Hoosiers scored in double-figures, with Cody Zeller pulling in a double-double, and the bench chipped in an impressive 23 points. The Hoosiers were also able to rack up 21 assists, 10 steals, and 5 blocks while only turning the ball over eight times. The one (extremely) bright spot for Purdue was the play of freshman big man A.J. Hammons, who scored 30 points on 10-14 shooting from the field and 10-12 from the free throw line in only 28 minutes of play. He also managed to swat five shots on his own.
Since that game, the Boilermakers have lost three of four games, with the one win coming at winless-so-far Penn State. The Hoosiers, on the other hand, have won three out of four, with their lone loss being at Illinois.
The Teams:
The Boilermakers seem to have a bit of trouble with shooting. They average only 65 points per game while hitting 44.8% two-point, 63.3% free throw, and 30.6% three-point. This should be very good for the Indiana defense, which gives up on average 42% two-point and 30.8% three-point. Purdue also does not tend to get to the line often, about once for every three field goal attempts; the Hoosiers have actually made more free throws than Purdue has attempted. Overall, Ken Pomeroy ranks Purdue as the second-worst offense in the Big Ten going up against the third-best defense of the Hoosiers.
It doesn't look any better when you look at the other side of the ball. By the same rankings, Purdue has the second-worst defense going up against the conference's best offense. IU hits 42.7% from three-point land (good for first in the country), 53.6% two-point, and 75.1% from the charity stripe. While the Boilermakers are pretty good at limiting opponents inside, they don't do quite as well along the perimeter, and even though they don't tend to send teams to the line excessively, they are going up against the second-best team in the country at getting to the charity stripe (almost once for every two field goal attempts). The Boilermakers also don't make it a habit of forcing turnovers, grabbing five steals per game.
The Match-ups:
Oddly, the biggest match-up once again does not include Victor Oladipo. Instead it will highlight the big men of Cody and Hammonds. As I already mentioned, Hammonds had a stellar game back at the end of January, and it looked like that could continue for him... until he only put up 10 points against Illinois. He currently averages 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks, along with 2 turnovers, per game. He is only hitting 69% of his free throws, but still managed to hit 10-12 in the last game against the Hoosiers. He was also somewhat limited by foul trouble, which is easy to do for any big man but especially those who are going up against Cody Zeller. Cody is averaging 16.5 points, 8 rebounds, and 1 steal per game while shooting 60% field goal and 75% free throw. As mentioned, Cody is phenomenal at drawing fouls (10th in the country), and his free throw rate ranks 11th in the country (4 free throws for every 5 field goal attempts). At the same time, he is not getting himself into foul trouble often. While Hammonds did a respectable job on Cody earlier this season, it could be very easy to see the freshman big man get rattled in the hostile environment of Assembly Hall.
Pretty much the only situation in which Victor will not be guarding an opponent's best player is when that player happens to be the center (such as Nebraska and Purdue). Those assignments will always go to Cody. But any other position... that assignment will always go to Vic. The guy can guard any position 1-4 and can make that player's life miserable, if only for one night. Whether guarding 6'2" Terone Johnson (the team's leading scorer) or the 6'5" D.J. Byrd (the team's most efficient shooter not named Hammonds), Victor should be able to showcase his skills. Johnson is averaging 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists per game, along with 2 turnovers. Byrd is getting almost the same at 9.5 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 turnovers per game, however is also the most "deadly" from deep at 35.5%. Johnson does a decent job of drawing fouls, but then hits under 60% of his free throw attempts. Byrd is actually the best free throw shooter on the team at 75%, but he doesn't get to the line all that often. Victor is averaging 14 points, 6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and steals, but also turns it over 2 times per game. What stands out about Vic's stat line is that he is leading the team in field goal percentage (as a 6'5" guard) at 64.4% and very surprisingly is leading one of the nation's best perimeter shooting teams in three-point percentage at 52.4% (considering he shot only 20% last season). He is just .3 three-point attempts per game away from qualifying for the national rankings in three-point percentage. While his offensive game has drastically improved, it is his defense which is truly above and beyond. He is in the top 15 in steals per game (first in the Big Ten), and is the only player in the Big Ten who is in the top 15 in the conference in points, rebounds, field goal %, free throw%, steals, and offensive rebounds (and he's in the top 10 in three of those categories). Needless to say, it could be a tough night both for whomever Vic is guarding and whichever Boilermaker draws the short straw of guarding him.
Final Thoughts:
As with the last game against the Boilermakers, this game has the distinct threat of becoming a trap game, as the Hoosiers next game will be a visit to Michigan State on Tuesday, where the Spartans knocked off Michigan by the unbelievable score of 75-52. I doubt, however, that this team will be looking past much of anything; the current seniors were around for a 19 point loss to Purdue their freshman year and the juniors also experienced a 14 point loss with them the next season.
Probably the biggest thing the Hoosiers will have to watch is rebounding; Purdue is the second-best team in the conference at offensive rebounding. At the same time, the Hoosiers are the best team at defensive rebounding, and the Hoosiers out-rebounded the Boilermakers 34-23 in the previous match-up.
As somebody joked with me, Purdue has to go down 37 to IU twice this season (they lost by 37 in the first game and have to take IN-37 to get to Bloomington). Whenever Purdue comes to town, the students get excited. Add to this the fact that it is an afternoon game so the Crimson Guard will have "only" been outside for about five and a half or six hours, and you've got the makings of what should be a very loud, wild, loud, enthusiastic crowd. Did I mention loud? The Hoosiers should be able to ride all of this to a win before traveling to East Lansing tied with Michigan State atop the conference.
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